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Muse was 18 and a student at Mifflin High School when she gave birth to a baby girl in secret on
Sept. 3, 2004. She wrapped the newborn in a blanket and a plastic bag and put her in a car trunk
outside her North Side apartment.

She hoped nobody in her Somali family would discover her pregnancy.

But her body couldn’t hide it. That night, she went to Mount Carmel St. Ann’s hospital with
stomach cramps and delivered a full-term placenta. Muse eventually admitted she had been pregnant
and told Columbus police where to find the baby.

An autopsy determined that the newborn, whose umbilical cord wasn’t clamped, died from asphyxia
and blood loss.

Whether out of fear of prosecution or shame from her community, she fled after she was
discharged from the hospital on Sept. 5. She was charged two days later with murder.

Police and prosecutors have been looking for her ever since. In October 2004, she was indicted
on charges of murder, felonious assault and endangering children. A federal arrest warrant was
issued on Nov. 3 that year after she was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

“We’re just trying to generate more publicity to generate more tips,” said Todd Lindgren, an FBI
spokesman.

The agent on the case recorded a short podcast about the crime on the FBI website.

“I have concerns about the rest of her life, if there are any other children involved ... so we
need to know where she is, because there is no statute of limitation on murder,” agent Kristin
Cadieux says in the recording.

Premarital sex is considered so sinful among Somalis that those who give birth out of wedlock —
and their children — are often shunned by their families and the greater community.

Columbus Police Sgt. Christ Holzhauser, of the homicide squad, worked on the case when the baby
was found. He said there have been bits of information about it over the years, but nothing
developed from them.

He speculated that she might have left the country, and “when they are able to get out of the
country, it’s hard to get them back.”

Investigators also speculated that Muse might have fled to another Somali community, perhaps in
Boston or Atlanta where she had relatives. Other large Somali communities are in Minneapolis,
Seattle, Dallas, San Diego and Washington, D.C.

Anyone with information on Muse’s whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI or Crime Stoppers at
614-645-TIPS (8477).